The Chicago Teachers Union is earning deep and lasting contempt over what they're doing to children in that city right now. Think of all the harm that has already been inflicted on kids via unscientific school closures over the last two years -- from profound learning loss, to emotional and developmental stress, to serious mental health challenges. We recently highlighted the lowlights of these deleterious impacts, as summarized in the New York Times last week. This is real. The effects are serious. But Chicago's teachers guild is waving it all off as they persist in their latest baseless shutdown:
Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey said that the mayor's opposition to remote learning is a "talking point" during a press conference on Saturday. During the press conference where the Chicago Teachers Union unveiled their new proposal to the Chicago Public Schools to get back to in-person learning, Sharkey said that Chicago Mayor Lori Lighfoot's opposition to remote learning is "just a talking point," adding that remote education is a "tool." "I hear the mayor say that she doesn't want to do remote. But honestly, that's just a talking point, it's an idea, ‘remote is bad.' Remote education is a tool." ... Sharkey said that remote learning should be viewed as an opportunity to have classes on days when it's not possible to get students' inside schools, such as during a blizzard.
But this isn't a blizzard. It is very much possible -- indeed, it is safe and necessary -- to have students inside schools. If this were an argument being advanced back in April of 2020, perhaps it could be justified as reasonable. But even last academic year, it would have been totally indefensible. It's beyond indefensible in 2022. We have mountains of evidence and data from around the world that schools are safe (safer than communities writ large) when it comes to COVID transmission, children are at exceptionally low risk from the virus, and that the failures of non-in-person "learning" are both acute and systemic. The Chicago Public Schools are fighting the union, with the city deeming the current strike illegal. As I noted in a previous analysis, progressive officials and institutions that are belatedly standing up to union abuses need to realize that they have been part of the problem that fed into this moment -- long pre-dating the pandemic. But better to fight for children's well-being at some point than never at all. In a memo to CPS parents, the district explained why the union's claims about "safety" and "health" are bogus:
Dear Parents and Members of our CPS Community,
As we continue to work hard to get a deal with the Chicago Teachers Union that will allow our children to return to in-person learning as soon as possible, we wanted to share with you some key facts to keep in mind: Schools Are Safe
Why do we keep saying schools are safe? Because of these key facts: In Chicago, research has shown that students learning in person and staff teaching in person were less likely to get COVID than the community at-large. That’s because the investments and protocols in our schools provide more protection than can be found in the community. There has not been evidence of widespread in-school spread of COVID. Among the nearly 370,000 students and staff in our 600-plus schools, there were only 53 instances of outbreaks in the fall, and the average number of people involved in each outbreak was 2.5. And out of thousands of students who were quarantined because they were a close contact, less than 5% were found to have COVID. Principals already have the ability to convert a classroom or the whole school to remote learning in response to safety concerns, and have done so when appropriate. Our proposal to CTU makes these guidelines more explicit to give more certainty to parents, staff, and students. CPS has invested over $100 million in school and classroom-based mitigations to fight COVID...
Such mitigation measures include upgraded ventilation systems and (frankly useless) deep cleaning. The letter goes on to remind everyone that 92 percent of CPS staff are vaccinated, and that testing is both available and deployed in schools to detect and contain (relatively rare and limited) outbreaks. There is no justification for locking kids out of classrooms any further. Continued closures are rooted in adult selfishness, irrational neuroses, and laziness. It became quite clear very early on that it was never justified. Continued shutdowns are about adult selfishness, irrational neuroses, and laziness. Teachers and unions who continue to perpetrate these abusive derelictions are sending a loud and clear message to parents and policymakers: The job of educating children is not essential. Parents and policymakers should take them at their word and react accordingly. How is this anywhere near the realm of acceptability?
A friend of mine with a child in Chicago Public Schools sends me her calendar showing how few days her son has attended classes over the last two+ months (with a January guessing game). Note “vaccine awareness day:” pic.twitter.com/6axc9MH8qK
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) January 10, 2022
Chicago is the most prominent example playing out right now, but other schools have been shuttered this year, are closing randomly (or due to 'staffing issues'), with other major unions squawking about the need for . This is not about children or education. And standing up -- and ultimately disempowering -- to these special interests is what is needed out of political leadership in America today. Leadership like this:
So much of what really happened in Florida is lost because of the dopey attacks on DeSantis. Here's a reminder that when schools opened in Fall 2020, there was a virtual option for any student that wanted it. How many other states did that? https://t.co/yeC1E0WhFC
— Greg Pollowitz (@GPollowitz) January 10, 2022
Meanwhile, here's a clip from nearly a year ago:
FLASHBACK to Biden in February: School closures are “a national emergency…I think about the price so many of my grandkids and your kids are going to pay.”
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 10, 2022
TODAY: Thousands of schools around the country are closing, and Biden is silent. pic.twitter.com/YGcs6rMStB
The case for school closures is now even weaker, and the extent of the emergency for children is even clearer. The president is hardly using his bully pulpit against the unions to the extent that he could. I recognize that the unions funnel huge sums of taxpayer money to Democrats every single election cycle, but isn't this a 'country over party' moment? It has been for the last year-and-a-half. The Democratic Party is beholden to this shamelessly lying villain and her ilk. I'll leave you with this:
2021: Nebraska Senator Justin Wayne (D) tells his colleagues he'll vote against the school choice bill if they agree to send their own kids to public schools. pic.twitter.com/JzvS7iW6FE
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) January 7, 2022
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